Udyr has seen a significant usage increase in the pro scene this year.
Over the past few weeks, the League of Legends community has watched the professional scene’s jungle meta shift around multiple new items and picks in the game.
Several leagues have seen the re-emergence of Udyr as one of the best picks in the jungle. As one of the oldest champions in the game, the Spirit Walker has barely seen any stage time over the past few years. In 2021, however, he’s become a priority pick for many top-tier rosters.
Last weekend, G2 Esports’ Jankos, Rogue’s Inspired, and Astralis’ Zanzarah talked with Dot Esports to discuss the current state of jungling in pro play.
“Not a lot of tanks are in the meta and when you play a style like Seraphine support [in the] bottom lane, you tend to need some frontline champions to face check or go in,” Jankos said. “Tank junglers don’t really farm that fast compared to carry junglers, and with each level, the difference will be bigger.”
Udyr, however, doesn’t fall into this catch-all category of tank junglers. Instead, Udyr has a clear time that can rival carry junglers, which means that he won’t fall behind in levels if he goes for multiple ganks in the early game.
In fact, Zanzarah thinks that Udyr is “super broken” due to his ability to clear multiple camps before Scuttle Crab even spawns—all without requiring a good leash. As a result, it’s hard to track what side of the jungle he’ll be on since he can quickly clear his camps.
Combined with easy point-and-click CC and a movement speed ability, Udyr is one of the most effective junglers for early-game dominance and objective control.
On the other hand, Viego, the newest champion in League, will be hitting competitive play soon as a possible jungler. He’s an interesting case for the pro scene since he’s so new and players are still trying to figure out the most optimal way to play him.
“I think it will take so much time for people to learn [Viego], because it’s a very skilled champ,” Inspired said. “You have to play very carefully to not go too deep in the fights, but you need to commit on enemies to deal damage. I think this champ will be very hard to pull off.”
Inspired also detailed how the Ruined King doesn’t have a lot of mobility built into his kit, which limits a jungler’s options during fights. A player must be precise in terms of when they choose to dive in with Viego’s skills since his only mobility ability is short-ranged.
Ultimately, we could see some experimenting with Viego once the pro scene hits the corresponding patch. But for now, we’ll have to settle for some gameplay in solo queue.
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